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Q: School ever tried to steal money from you?
School says I was 35 minutes late one day despite telling me that I have to get there at least 30 minutes before class start. Now they want to deduct a full day's pay. But the Chinese teachers only get half a day's pay deducted. I told them if they take a day of pay from me then I take a day of work from them.
Tomorrow I'm supposed to work to cover a sick teacher and depending on how things work out, I may not be going.
11 years 23 weeks ago in Business & Jobs - China
You need a fallback here. What's in your contract? What does the contract say about lateness? Who said that you were 35 minutes late? Is this a language training center? Follow the contract and if the contract really says nothing about this, or nothing like this, then find out where the local FEB is and get them involved. The FEB will be loathe to get involved but with enough goading, they will get involved. I surely would look for a more reputable employer.
beaufortninja:
The school broke the contract several times. Didn't help with work visa. Late with pay 2 times. Other stuff. They broke the contract so it holds no power anymore.
Shining_brow:
Sorry Beaufort, but yes, the contract still does have power... firstly, they're chinese, you're not!
Secondly, if they broke the contract, and you did nothing about it, then it still holds. You know how it works here - give an inch, they'll take a mile.
I would say it depends on how dependent you are on the employer. If they hold your visa, any money or pay for your apartment I would be wary of pissing them off completely. It also depends on how they have treated other foreigners in the past.
beaufortninja:
I just wrote a pretty brutal review of them since my last day is on Saturday. http://wanderingamericantravelblog.com/2012/11/07/world-international-english-school-a-review/
So from reading the blog might one understand that you were not working on a Z visa / residence permit? So the school d*cks everyone around with L visas or F visas and things like that? Never, ever put up with something like that.
beaufortninja:
Had to sort my own out which was hella expensive and time consuming. Most teachers don't bother with it and work illegally on tourist visas.
So this might also serve as a heads-up to everyone out there working on F and L visas and all the dangers that those can pose. Even though the Z visa affords little legal protection here, the locals FEB's and the local PSB's can be "urged" into action with a some prodding in the case of serious contractual violations. Should there be on contractual violations on an L or an F visa, the poor F T is really out of luck.
So the OP, where did your predicament end up?
beaufortninja:
They "remembered" that the reason I was late was because they specifically asked me to come in a little later and paid me in full. This was of course after I threatened to bail on them and I convinced all the part-time teachers not to agree to extra classes.
Simple: they say they will take a full days pay for 35min late, tell them if you aint gonna get paid for the day, you aint gonna work the day! This works especially well if said day is a weekend or they have no spare teachers available to do cover.
Fight fire with fire here in China, if you don't stand up to them you will ultimately lose. Chinese bosses are used to their workers being feeble and weak (they often aren't but will act this way to the boss as it's the culture to listen and respect the boss 100%). Don't follow this or you they will take advantage of you more and more and exert these stupid salary deduction penalties again and again!
It's happened to me before and I have refused to accept it. They always change their mind after you suddenly arrive at school on a busy day and refuse to teach!
I have had my PPTs and materials stolen from me and they refused to pay me for my effort. They promised to pay 500rmb and hour, had me prepare all the materials for approval, then pulled out at the last minute with the excuse, "The client did not like your evaluation style." The school is "Key Logic" Beware of Key Logic and Alena who poses as vice president, but is actually a consultant for Key Logic.
please which city is this? I'm a non native speaker and I want a teaching job. I'd be glad to hear from you.
I had a boss try to cheat me about 7 years ago and I flipped. He is still a good friend to this day.
I had a bit of a rough time - got hired by a school on a decent wage though turns out they couldn't afford to pay for my salary as they couldnt recruit enough students. in the end I was told that my teaching style "was not what they wanted" and was told to leave, after doing a month's promotion work and demos as well as a few real classes I got nothing. I did wonder as to whether or not I was what they wanted as a teacher, though this was quashed soon after when they asked me to cover a class for a sick teacher on the very day they fired me! Harsh lesson
Shining_brow:
I believe, the best practice in these situations is to 'threaten' (well 'warn' or 'advise') that you're going to post a really really really bad review of the school on EVERY SINGLE ESL BOARD you can, so that they'll NEVER get another FT again.
Might not work, but hey - if that's the situation you're in, what do you have to lose??
Since I can be a right bastard at times, I'd suggest telling the local FT's (if you like them) to get out, before heading to the local SAFEA or PSB, and tell them that there's a school hiring FT's without the legal license to do so. (I presume this is the situation, rather than merely the expense). Either way, when SAFEA hear that the FT's are working illegally, and the school knows/endorses/encourages it, it could be in the shit.
Posting such a story on Sina or Weibo might have a similar effect (see the outfall of the (was it EF or WSI) that had the video uploaded about bad recruitment, policy, teaching, etc etc... and so many wanting their money back that week...
